Behold! The local media (in today’s Australian) briefly mention the role of British multinational Serco but watch how quickly it’ll be buried again. Nothing to see here, all hail privatised cruelty: The government has ruled out using the military as a crisis response force in the event of trouble at a new immigration detention centre…
Showing all posts tagged privatisation
Talking on ABC TV News24 about refugees, Afghanistan and some common sense
Last night I again appeared on ABC TV’s News24 The Drum panel alongside the Australian Financial Review’s David Crowe and The Daily Grind’s Joe Stella (vision here for two weeks and here’s info about my August appearance). YouTube video here. The main topic up for discussion was the asylum seeker crisis at Sydney’s Villawood detention…
Hello media, what are Serco doing to asylum seekers in Australia?
The Australian media is filled with coverage of the refugee protest at Sydney’s Villawood detention centre and yet virtually no journalists seem to be reporting about the role of Serco, the company running the place. It’s always simply assumed that privatisation of detention centres is a jolly good idea for all concerned. For a lack…
Asylum seekers all over the news but Serco’s role remains covered
From this morning’s ABC AM: TONY EASTLEY: A police investigation will continue today into the death of a Fijian man at the Villawood Immigration detention centre in Sydney. The 36-year-old, who jumped to his death yesterday morning, was due to be deported back to Fiji. Overnight, tensions remained high at the centre when a group…
Another man dead at Villawood and the government shrugs
Murdoch’s Australian newspaper often reports news by simply republishing whatever the government tells them (this story has subsequently been updated but below was the original text of the story): Immigration authorities are investigating the sudden death of a detainee at Sydney’s Villawood detention centre this morning. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship said the 36-year-old…
Hello, my name is Blackwater and I’d like to protect your wealth
The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill continues his seemingly never-ending investigation of Blackwater: Over the past several years, entities closely linked to the private security firm Blackwater have provided intelligence, training and security services to US and foreign governments as well as several multinational corporations, including Monsanto, Chevron, the Walt Disney Company, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and…
KBR and the food shortage in Baghdad
Lessons in corrupt contracting (and something increasingly relied upon by Western allies in Iraq): The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad paid millions to a government contractor for meals and snacks that nobody ate, according to a new internal State Department report. The State Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that the embassy overpaid by…
Chilean paramilitaries protecting Aussie embassy in Baghdad
What better way to show affection for an occupied nation? Hire thugs to protect a space that only exists due to the Australian government’s desperate desire to join the Bush administration into the country in 2003: The Defence Department plans to fully privatise security at Australia’s Baghdad embassy by the end of the year, after…
Do we want the bio-terror threat managed by faceless men?
A cracking story and an important warning against the privatisation of the most delicate of tasks: Fears about bioterrorism have prompted new efforts by corporations and governments worldwide to build defenses against germ attacks. But some of these arrangements themselves raise security issues. Consider the spirited global contest to corner the franchise on providing halal…